Student Advantage - Connected - Official Blog of PC Connection, Inc.http://www.pcconnection.com/blogen-us2015 PC Connection, Inc. All rights reserved.customercare@pcconnection.comTue, 25 Nov 2014 20:14:17 ZStudent Advantage{89C016BB-4E81-4101-919A-18DF9A41D2EE}http://www.pcconnection.com/blog/take-advantage-of-microsofts-student-advantageBrian HansonMicrosoftOffice 365Student AdvantageEducational InstitutionTake Advantage of Microsoft's Student Advantage<p>Recently, Microsoft announced a new program called Student Advantage, which allows academic organizations to get Office 365 Pro Plus for their students for free. Read on to find out what the Student Advantage program can do for your school.</p>
<p><img alt="Microsoft Student Advantage - Office 365 Plus Pro in the Classroom" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 10px; float: right;" src="~/media/7F22E5937C694B0387316F3FC5D63A05.ashx?v=1&la=en" title="Microsoft Student Advantage - Office 365 Plus Pro in the Classroom">All schools and universities that license Office 365 ProPlus or Office Professional Plus for staff and faculty, and that are in either an OVS-ES or EES agreement, can now also provide access to Office 365 ProPlus for students at no additional cost. It&rsquo;s that simple.</p>
<p>So what does Office 365 Pro Plus consist of? All of the same Microsoft Office applications you&rsquo;re already familiar with:</p>
<p><img width="560" height="80" alt="Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus Applications" width="560" height="80" src="~/media/9ECAF41FE24741F689F5A319009C0237.ashx?v=1&la=en" title="Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus Applications"></p>
<p>Each subscription license allows a student to activate the software for local or remote use on up to five machines&mdash;PC or Mac. In addition, you can also run Office Mobile on Android or iOS devices. The cloud just got a little closer. </p>
<p>The goal of this program is make it easy for students to get access to the latest version of the Microsoft Office suite today and better prepare themselves for the tools used in the modern day workplaces of tomorrow. For more information, check out Microsoft&rsquo;s blog post about the new <a href="http://blogs.office.com/2013/12/02/preparing-students-for-the-workplace-student-advantage-is-now-available/" target="_blank">Student Advantage</a> program. <br>
<br>
<strong>If you're thinking about Office 365, we recommend taking our Office 365 Online Readiness Assessment. This template was designed by our experts to answer your question: &ldquo;Is my organization ready for Office 365?&rdquo; <a href="/brand/microsoft/office-365-readiness-assessment">Start Now</a>!</strong></p>
<p>Tue, 25 Nov 2014 15:14:17 -05002014-11-25T15:14:17-05:00{9DA677F1-6F85-44D6-A87C-7023BC066D59}http://www.pcconnection.com/blog/mac-in-the-workplaceTeri GrossheimAdobeAppleBYODEducational InstitutionMobilityRemote WorkersSmartphonesStudent AdvantageTabletsTouchscreenMicrosoftMac in the Workplace<p>With the growing number of&nbsp;<a href="/it-services/mobility-apple-services">BYOD</a> and employee choice strategies being implemented in today&rsquo;s business environments, many employees are choosing Mac&reg; to get their work done. IT organizations are often not sure how to get started when supporting&nbsp;<a href="/it-services/mac-client-integration-assessment">Mac computers in business</a> <a href="http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/PM/Brands/Apple/MacSeminar.htm" target="_blank"></a>environments. Best practices for Mac deployment, management, security, and support are dynamic and typically specific to each individual IT environment. Successful integration enables IT to demonstrate value and a willingness to support employees&mdash;and therefore supporting the business.</p>
<p><img alt="Mac in the Workplace" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 10px; float: right;" src="~/media/CF71177DD05845FEAB371FD661D3118F.ashx?v=1&la=en" title="Mac in the Workplace">Mac computers have several built-in technologies, and with the new business features in the latest release of OS X&reg; Mavericks&mdash;and the upcoming <a href="/brand/apple/os-x-yosemite">OS&nbsp;X Yosemite</a>&mdash;IT is able to integrate Mac in a logical manner. Mac computers now default to Windows file sharing protocols (SMB2), have improved Microsoft Exchange support, and refined energy technologies that improve battery life. FileVault, now in its third generation, offers full disk encryption and the ability for centralized deployment. Mavericks supports more VPN types, Per-app VPN to help separate personal data from corporate data, and is engineered for better networking performance. Best of all, Mavericks is a free upgrade and comes packed with advantages for both users and IT.</p>
<p>While mobile device management (MDM) might be typically thought of as a solution for mobile devices, Apple&reg; has brought the same functionality to OS X. Mac computers can be managed from the same console that also manages iPad&reg;, iPhone&reg;, Android, and even Windows Phone devices. Restrictions, accounts, and policies can be configured remotely using an <a href="/it-services/mobile-device-management-services">MDM solution</a>. Mac computers can also be queried, wiped, and locked remotely using MDM. Similar to BYOD or COPE (corporate owned, personally enabled) mobile devices, Mac computers can be managed in the same fashion. One management solution could potentially manage most, if not all devices.</p>
<p>Mac computers also play nice in a Windows environment. Native support for Microsoft Exchange, Lync, and SharePoint allows users to be more productive and for IT to leverage an existing technology infrastructure. Mac computers can also join Active Directory out of the box, with support for single sign-on and automatic mounting of home shares. Improved support for Microsoft certificates and SMB file sharing are also included with Mavericks. In all, existing Windows environments integrate and support Mac computers without extensive changes.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/PM/Solutions/MultiMedia/AppleMobilityandtheWorkplace.htm%20" target="_blank">Listen to the Podcast</a><br>
<br>
</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10px;">Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, OS X, iPhone and iPad are trademarks of Apple, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.</span></p>Fri, 21 Nov 2014 15:01:06 -05002014-11-21T15:01:06-05:00